Committee advances film, creative-arts and food innovation bills with amendments

The House Committee on Economic Development took votes on multiple bills Feb. 12, 2025, approving committee-recommended amendments and passing each measure to the next stage of the legislative process.

HB 1498: The committee adopted Department of Taxation–adjusted amendments to date changes that assist implementation, accepted Motion Picture Association language addressing loan-out companies, restored classification of motion picture and television production as manufacturing for tax purposes, and repealed a provision requiring GET be paid at the highest rate for qualified production costs. The chair called the recommendation to pass with amendments; the committee adopted the recommendation and the measure will move forward with the agreed edits.

HB 450 (HD1): The committee adopted suggested amendments from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) to add an administrative staff position to support transition, change the effective date to July 1, 2026, and include a committee note that there will be no loss of funding during the transition. The committee passed HB 450 with those amendments.

HB 774 (HD1): The committee adopted suggested amendments from the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) to align the food and product innovation network with Hawaii's strategic agricultural goals. The committee passed the bill; the chair noted the measure contains a defective effective date that staff will correct in final drafting.

Witnesses who testified during the HB 1498 segment included Vallea Constantino of the Honolulu Film Office, representatives of SAG-AFTRA and IATSE Local 665, and business and chamber voices urging targeted adjustments to the film tax-credit structure, workforce development uplifts and per-production cap exemptions for long-running projects. Vallea Constantino urged incentives that drive local hires and workforce development and suggested targeted uplifts and exemptions for projects that commit to longer local productions and qualified sound-stage work.

On HB 450, Creative Industries and DBEDT stood on their written testimony in support of the HD1 language. On HB 774, testimony came from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the Hawaii Food Industry Association, the University of Hawaii, community colleges and the Local Food Coalition; DBEDT supported aligning the innovation network with statewide agricultural strategy.

For each bill the committee chair read the recommended amendments on the record and asked the vice chair to take the vote; in each case the committee reported the recommendation adopted and moved the bills forward. The committee adjourned after completing these items.